How Dogs (and some husbands!) Learn: Behaviorally

In episode three, our hosts dive into Canine to Five's second foundational principle of DOG which is How Dogs Learn. The answer? Behaviorally. Tune in as Chrissy and Cara share the behavioral insights they've gained over the years and give you the tools you need to train your pup right at home! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Dog is love, like the roots of the trees and the stars up above. Dog is love,

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judgment free, unconditionally. Okay, we're going to start this episode with... a little bit of a funny but naughty story. So it may not be the most appropriate for young ears. So if you have young ears listening to this episode, just go ahead and fast forward to five minutes and 30 seconds. Hey, Kara. Hi, Chris. I have a story for you. Okay, let's hear it. Sweet listeners, lean in. All right, when I started K9to5 in 2007, I was away with some friends over the summer. Some I knew, others I met for the first time. Right. And one was a behaviorist. While we were sitting on the beach, we were getting to know each other, and she told a story that I will never forget. ever forget. And now you won't either. Okay. Learning about what I do. She finally remembered her childhood dog. She said anyone at any time could point to her dog and say, bang, bang. Oh, I love that trick. Yeah. Then the dog would like dramatically slide his front paws forward, slide his hind legs back and fall over quickly. Laying on his side and playing dead. And I was in awe because as a kid, I always wanted to train my dog to do that and I never could get it to happen. And so I was freaking out with her. I was like, wait, I've always wanted to do that. How? How did you do that? And with like such confidence, she said, actually, it's really simple. Rewarded behavior. I was like, OK. And she said her family broke the trick down into parts. Sure. They worked with him on every part till that he mastered it. OK. And then what they did is they combined all of those together. Once he was, you know, all the parts were mastered, then they combined it together into one trick. Right. And they just in a seat in that sequence that was needed. And then they. At the end, they would use the word bang, bang, the command. Right. Which is we know how this works now. And this was 2007. Right. Beginning of your journey. Yeah. Beginning of my journey. Right. OK. So she like continued. She was like, yeah, we all learn behaviorally. Animals, kids, all of us. It's pretty easy for anyone. I was like, oh, OK. And then she said, I even did it with my husband. Yeah. I was a little confused. Like, did I hear her correctly? And so she continued on and I eagerly listened. She said she was tired of getting stuck cleaning the bathrooms every week. So she said she just tried to put her skills to use. Okay. Do you know where this is going? I have some idea. So on their designated cleaning days, which I love what this couple had designated cleaning days. Amazing. Yeah. And She would create a scenario. Okay. Where she would have to like in a frenzy leave. Oh. On the day, yeah. Wise woman. And it was just like something that she would be right back, like in an hour or something like that. Okay. Right? And so she would leave it to do this and she'd be like, oh my gosh, I totally forgot. I got to go do this blah, blah, blah, blah errand. I'll be right back. Okay. And on the top of the list was to clean the toilets. That was like the first thing for him to do. Okay. So then she would come back and when she came back, well... She would just, you know, have a little bit of fun with him and he would just have an afternoon, you know. She gave him a... She did. We keep it PG here, huh? That's what you thought. I couldn't believe it. I was like, what? So, I mean, like she would come home and be like, hey, and just... And then do the deed. He would have his little afternoon delight. And then they would continue on. So she would say, honey, clean the bathroom. She would like she would not verbally say it. She had it written out. She would get his list out. And number one on the list was clean the toilet. Like start there. So he would start with cleaning the toilet. She would come home. Oh, thanks. Give him a blowjob. And then what happened? Yeah. And she continued to do this routine for like months. OK, then what happened? until bathroom cleaning became his thing. Like he just started doing it. So he was like the happiest guy to clean the bathrooms. Oh my God. I know. Men really are dogs. No, they're not. I don't promote doing this with your partner, but it's hysterical, right? Golly, it was too easy. And it hits home, right? For what we're about to talk to today. So yes, what are we talking about today? Yeah. So remember our three foundational principles that we're going to like beat in your head basically to understand dog and they are how dogs live. How they learn and how they act. So today. Right. We're going to concentrate on how dogs learn. Right. Right. Which is. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Of course. Just like my friend's husband. They learn behaviorally. Right. Okay. Perfect. I love it. So let's drop some knowledge first and then we'll kind of get into the. I don't know what the how to or. Sure. Yeah. How to do it. Right. Yeah. All right. So dogs are actually really intelligent species. Yeah. They can learn words, read human body language, decipher thousands of commands and execute them. It's true. There are some more brainier breeds than others. And of course, I've heard owners say that they have like a knucklehead on their hands, but I just really don't believe that. But there are brainier breeds than others. Of course. Yeah. I mean, there are certain, you know. Shepherds. Poodles. Poodles. Retrievers. Not all retrievers. Yeah. But there are, I mean, certain dogs that are instinctively, which is, you're going to talk about this, but are bred to work. Yeah. To have a job. So dogs have three types of intelligence and it's important to know this. Right. Okay. So the one is instinctive. Yes. And you're going to hear me always kind of say, primal. Right. It's like it's what they are primitively know inherited from generation to after generation. Right. Right. Right. So that's like herding. Or sniffing to find things. Right. So it's kind of like if you ever watch one of those dog shows, you'll see which categories that they put them in. You've got the herding group. Then you've got the sporting group. Then you've got the various other toy group. Yeah, sure. And that's sort of when you refer. Is that kind of what you mean? Like when you refer to the instinctiveness, like if that if there is a specific job that that dog was bred to do. Yes, I think it relates to that. Correct. So, I mean, again, it goes dog first, but then it kind of goes in. Yes, it breaks down into each breed for sure. Yeah. OK. And then the second one is adaptiveness. Right. So learning to solve a problem in the environment. Right. Okay. Domesticated, we see this kind of often where the dog is actually training the owner. Right. So you'll hear like, oh, when my dog scratches my leg, he wants food. Or when my dog barks, he wants me to pet him. You were just saying this about your friend. Yeah. That their dog has... you know telltale signs for everything that they want right tells them what they want and you're like oh that's interesting so your dog's the boss yes very much so right um and then uh the last one is obedience and that's what we do when we train them sure so that's the we in the collective correct so that's the sit the high five the lay down kind of thing yeah all right okay um And as we learned from our behaviorist story or our behaviorist friend, mammals all learn behaviorally. So like all of us, the equation is simple for teaching dogs a skill. And this equation is first we need to physically manipulate the dog to do a behavior. Right. So that then the behavior is performed. Right. When performed, we label it with a word, a command. Yep. You can even do hand signals so you don't have to be incriminative. A lot of hunters or if your dog's deaf, those two kind of situations, they'll either do hand signals. Right. Police dogs. Oh, yeah. Police dogs, too. Yeah. Yeah. And what was it? And then you reward with, so you give the command. Yes. And then the next step. And the hand signals and stuff. And then simultaneously, you need to reward them. Right. With a high reward. So what is an example of a high reward? Oh, that's a good question. So it can be, high rewards are water, toys. Praise. Praise, like good girl, good boy. Yep. Treat. And then obviously food. And food is the highest reward. Sure. The last one is a pat on their ear, like behind it, or underneath their chin. Those are very high praise for a dog. Right. So then all this will later equate to when you say the command or give the hand signal, the dog will perform. The behavior. Right. Right. OK. Yeah. And it's important to know that the command or the hand signal can be anything. Most people will say like sit for sit or stay for stay.

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But

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you could say silly words like, you know, hold up, bro. Or get busy for potty. Yeah. It's just that you or you and your family are consistent in using words. that certain command or hand signal for that particular behavior. And consistency is like so important. So if you don't have a family member in your home, That is, I've seen this sometimes. Like they bring me in to get the family consistent and I can do that for you. Call me. I'll come over and do that. Right. But it's like, you know, dad wants it to be this and doesn't want to listen to mom. There's all these dynamics. Sure. Okay. He needs a blowjob. Oh my God, yes. That was a joke. Cut that out. But yes, I know what you're saying. Right? So it has to be consistent with each skill and command. Right. Okay. And then with that consistency, the repetitiveness of you doing that will help your dog succeed. Yeah. Not the blowjob the command is. Right. Repetition and consistency. The utmost importance. Yes. Right? Without it, it's a waste of your time and your dog's time Yes. And, and if you get a trainer, it's, it's a waste of all of our times. So it's consistency and repetition. Right. And the thing is, is it doesn't take long. No. You know, if you, it's sure you have always said this and we may have even said this last week, but that expression, short term pain, long term gain. If you can be just Sarge in charge for, for, Two weeks. Your dog will get it. Dogs are intelligent creatures. Yeah. And then you're going to be incentivized to keep on going because you're going to see. Right. You'll see the reward. The reward will be that your dog, you will have a well-behaved animal. Yeah. So, I mean, it's like... Just stick with it. Yeah. And it's easy to break it down. Like I always do this with any of the clients that we're training, like focus on one thing or a couple of things for two weeks until they mastered it. Right. And then layer on. Right. The next thing or the next thing. Yes. And I honestly, if you just focus on one thing for two weeks, I think you'll be pretty surprised and empowered. Yes. Yes. And what you can do with your dog.

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Yeah.

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So with that said, I mean, should we dig into some of the like these three kind of intelligence or like where do you where do you think? How can we best help the listener? What do you think? Yeah, well, let's start with some like some guidelines. Right. For to start when you're like ready to get training with your dog. Right. So. One of them is that you need to make sure that you're in a calm, organized and disciplined mindset. Right. Again. Calm mindset. Calm mindset. You're going to hear us say that all the time. Yes. And so you that that's you getting into that. Remember the PAC leadership role. Right. Yeah. And if you're not, take the time to get into that. Right. So like. You know, for Kara and I, when we go out dog walking. Oh, gosh. We might be having a chaotic morning. And then one of us and we hear this from our other dog walkers, too. One of us will call each other and be like, oh, my gosh, our park is out of control or somebody went after this dog or what have you. And it's because. Right. we as the pack leader are not sending in that energy. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Got it. We say this all the time. I mean, dogs are energetic creatures. Yes. So they will feed off of whatever energy you're exuding. So if you are not in that calm mindset and you go, say, out for a walk or whatnot, your dog's going to sense that immediately. Yeah. Right. And so they're going to be on edge. They're going to be nervous. They're going to adapt to whatever you're exuding. Mm hmm. Right. Yeah. Well, they're going to pick up on your energy and they may they may. You may think they're adapting to your energy, but it's actually they're trying to take that pack leadership role because you're not in that calm mindset in space. So if you're not there, then they're going to take in control and then you're going to start seeing dogs act dog. Right. Right. Which is sometimes they might go after each other. Sure. Just different things like that. Sure. Sure. So take time. Like, right. So what we like to say, if you're not in that space as a dog walker, you know, do a meditation for five or 10 minutes. Sure. Just to get in your space. Or like I said, if you're over a crate, if you're creating your dog, take that couple minutes to breathe deeply. to get yourself like in that mindset. Right. Right. So that's something important to know. When you start off training, behavioral training, you want to make sure that like five minutes max. At a time. At a time. Sure. You can do it multiple times in a day. You can do it five minutes and then 10 minutes later, you can do another five minutes for sure. But just do, I think that's a great place to start. Now, yes, there's dogs like I could take a dog and I could be training that dog all day long. Right. And it's true. But I'm usually doing five minutes and then maybe a little play. And then we come back to five minutes. Right. Yeah. It's just it's just a good place to start. And then you can expand that time frame over, you know, your what your training time. Yeah. OK. OK. And like I said, stick to one thing at a time and layer it. And then dogs can frustrate. Right. So. Yeah. Yeah. So check that ego at the door. Yes. Because there's no place for it. Right. Because what you'll do is you'll just be getting frustrated and then that energy plays off to the dog and then you're not. Right. So if you find that you're you're going you're not clicking. It's not working. Right. Take a pause. Take a break. Walk away. Try again. Right. Give it a minute. Yeah. Like anything in life. OK. Yeah. Let's go into just a simple one. Right. OK. The sick command. Perfect. OK. So you have to, again, that equation

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and

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we have to manipulate the dog into the behavior that we want. Right. So you're physically when you're beginning. There's lots that you like. Sometimes you're physically interaction with the dog. Sometimes you're catching them in the act like you're. That's a good point. That's a really good point. Like you may have your dog sit and then you're able to reward the behavior if they sit in a calm mindset. But let's say they don't and you're trying to teach them to do it on cue. Yeah. So with puppies or with the dog, what you're going to do is you're going to run your pointer finger and your thumb down their spine. And while you're going down their spine, you have a treat in your hand and you raise it up in front of their nose. So their nose is coming up. And you're going down their spine and then you just do a little pinch at the bottom of their spine and their tushy will like go under and they'll sit. Right. Oh, my God. I'm such a mom tushy. OK, so so that will happen. Right. And immediately that's the manipulation part. Uh huh. Then they're in the behavior, which is the sit. Right. And then you say the command. Right. Sit down. you know, whatever it is. Sure. We're going to say sit. Yeah. And then reward immediately with a high reward. Yes. And high rewards can be like boiled chicken, you know, in a baggie, like shredded up. Right. You can do some dogs. Just be careful with this. Some dogs do well with cheese. Some don't. But like a cheese stick is so easy to use because you can just like pinch a little bit off. Yes. And then, of course, there's tons of great treats out there. Yeah. I love. Well, we'll get into that later about. Yeah. In the foods. Yeah. But just something that will make, you know. Yeah. Incentivize them. Okay. So again, we manipulated the behavior. Right. By running our hands down there, down the back. And then the dog sat, did the behavior. And then we labeled it, rewarded it quickly. Right. So now later on. After you do a week practice of this five minutes every day, multiple times a day, then you're going to see you're going to say sit and the dog's going to sit automatically. Right. It is not unlike potty training a child. Like my mom potty trained. Well, I don't know about my brother and sister, but I know she potty trained me with chiclets. That's probably why I had like 27 cavities for the age of 13. But just, you know, go to the bathroom. You get a half a chiclet. You know, it's it's we're all mammals. Yeah. We learn the same way. We learn the same way. Yes. It's like learning any new thing. Right. Let's go into something that's like not so manipulative. Right. So let's do it like a high five. OK. OK. I like that one. So, you know, how do I get my dog's paw up to my hand? Right. So you simply are going to have the dog in a sick. position because they already learned the sit for the past two weeks so they've mastered that so you say sit they sit then you're going to grab their paw and hold it up and you can be like so cool or high five or whatever right and you give a treat right and you keep on doing that consistently and repetitively yes over and over and then what's going to happen is maybe like on day two Maybe two. Sure. If you've done it like four times that particular day. Right. And then, you know, the second day. All of a sudden, you're just going to hang for one second and you'll say, you know, the command, high five or so cool. And the dog will be like, oh, yeah, I'm supposed to touch my hand, my paw to her hand. Right. And just give them just a second. Yes. And you'll see their brain will start tricking or tricking. Their brain will start ticking. Yeah. And then boom, they'll hit that ball up to your hand. Yes. And you reward it with like high praise, like, yay, good boy, you know, and give them food. All right. Yes. So those are simple training. Yes. Okay. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So one thing you went into was for you and your mom was potty training. And it's so true, right? Okay. So how do I get my dog to potty outside and not inside? Yes. Okay. So your manipulation part. Yes. Is using a crate. Right. And or a timer. And. Well, there are multiple steps to this. There's multiple steps. But I'm just saying the manipulation. So, for instance, you know, you want to be on your top game in the morning. Right. Because the puppy or the dog has been in the crate all night. Right. And then so you're going to open up the crate. Right. That was the manipulation part. In a calm mindset. Ah, in a calm mindset. You're going to hate hearing it from us. So actually, let me say something real fast. I was telling Kara the other day when we were listening to the podcast yesterday. I'm like, oh my gosh, the calm mindset could be a drinking game where like every time we say it. It'd be wasted. Yeah. By the end. Exactly. OK, so we're back at to the potty and right. So you've manipulated the dog by being in the crate. That's your manipulation. OK, that's a physical manipulation. Yeah, that's how you get it. Right. And then you're going to carry your dog out. Or if you have a puppy, you're going to carry your puppy out to a potty spot. Right. And that's a really, really critical part. of this equation to actually physically pick up your dog. Yeah. It's important. A puppy. Yeah. Your puppy and get it outside. Right. Yeah. And there's really in depth how we'll do this, but we're just talking about this in a grander scale. So you pick up your dog, puppy, take them outside to a potty spot and they're going to have to go to the bathroom right now because you manipulated them by being in the crate. Right. A dog's not going to go to the bathroom where they lie. That's why they held it in. That's the manipulation part. Now they're outside. They're going to relieve it. Right. So then when they squat down to go to the bathroom, they're doing the behavior you want. And so you're going to label it calmly when you do this because you don't want to get too excited because then the dog will stop in just the excitement. Sure. So you'll just say, you know, bring it, bring it, bring it continuously while they're going to the bathroom. Yeah. And then once they're done, you're like, yeah, yeah. Treat, treat, treat, pick up and bring back inside. Right. And you had mentioned you touched on this last week. And this is really important to remember when you are training a dog behaviorally. It's one. at a time. Correct. Right. Every event needs to be separated from the other event or compartmentalize is what I usually say. Yeah.

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Which is important.

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Yeah. So once you do that potty training, bring them back in and then you can continue on to whatever else you want to do with the dog. Right. So it wouldn't be. So you would you would find a way to separate that specific event of going potty if that's if that's the intention, if that's what you're trying to teach in that moment, you wouldn't then say, oh, we're going to go outside now to play because it's the morning. You mean like if you're outside going to the paddy, he did it and then you stay outside? Right. Yes. Like you wouldn't do that. You would bring the dog inside because your intention is to get this dog to learn that specific command so that Once the dog has learned that command, you can give that dog that same command in a very different environment and he will know it. Yeah. So you're teaching them a language. Correct. Right. Yeah. And the potty thing is a big deal because if you're a busy family and you're like trying to get out of the house. Right. And you've got so much stuff going on in the house.

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Yes.

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you know, you just want to be like, open the door and say, go potty. The dog runs out, goes potty and comes right back inside. And it's easy to do. Yeah. Like it's, this is an achievable goal. Right. And then it's this, this also reminds me of, um, so my husband, Steve had a dog in college, Winston. And, um, So they did this type of training with Winston, the dog when he was a puppy. He was a lab, right? Yeah. And it was in a townhouse, a lacrosse townhouse. And they only had ivy on the side of their townhouse. There was no green grass right there. So the dog always went to the bathroom in the ivy. Okay. So behaviorally, he learned. He associated. Yes, the ivy. So there's this classic story of us all tailgating. When we were out of college, we came back for a lacrosse game. We're tailgating. Yeah. And, you know, some of the guys are taking nature whiz in the forest. And all of a sudden, Winston just trots away and there's cars everywhere. And he's just walking down, you know, the parking lot. And he's following guys into the woods everywhere. And he goes to the bathroom and then like you see him trotting back out to us. Yeah. And he was looking for the tall grass. Yeah. Or the wood. Yeah. And the guys are just like with their hands up like, what the heck is that? You know, but that's that's how behavioralistic this can get. You know, is that the word? Is that the right word? That's how behaviorally they can get trained. Sure. No, I mean, that is the same with our dog, Juniper. Yeah. She does not. she will only poop in the tall grass. So we live on a property that has fields that aren't mowed and she much prefers that. So that's how, so when she walks with the pack, She's always like, you know, she gets a little... Squirrely because she doesn't want to go out in the grass. She doesn't want to go to the bathroom anywhere but like taller grass. Right, right. So, I mean... For I mean, this goes into something else. So for you, when you are you in the audience listening, when you have a dog, you know, a female can really tear up your lawn because they'll kill your grass wherever they go to the bathroom. So it's a really good idea to have a certain potty spot and make sure that the dog is going back to there. But again, it's all behavior. Right. Right. Yes. OK, so these are your training options. Situations, right? The sit, the high five. I mean, it goes into, there's so many things you can do. That's another one. That's a really important one. So many, right? Right. And then you're just simply using that equation, right? Manipulation of the behavior to get the behavior, label that behavior and reward it so that later on, you can say the command and they'll do it. So Chrissy, I have a question. So what about our clients and listeners who say, you're crazy, that doesn't work, right? My dog's so high energy that every time we go outside, our dog acts like a lunatic and I can't get him to listen. What would be your advice to them? So you have to start the training inside the house. Okay. When you take and master it inside the house first. Okay. And then once they're mastered inside, you go outside into your yard and master it out there. Okay. And the reason for that is because inside is safe space your own sense more controlled smells more controlled outside is you know all the senses so they're constantly distracted right and then to answer even more particular to your question is you have to exercise the dog before you go into training that's what I was waiting for you to say yeah so it's like go for a run go take the dog for a walk then come back and really get the dog you know focused in right you want that dog to also be in that calm stable position Mindset. You want it to be tired, you know, a little not, not exhausted. Right. But you want it to have burned some of that. Yeah. That like, yeah. Charged energy. Right. Yeah. Okay. So that's why if you go back to when we were talking about like their routine, that's why it's so great just to set yourself up with an hour walk in the morning. Or if you do a bike ride with your dog or go for a run, then they have that initial energy expressed. Right. You fed them. You've gotten the whole house out the door. Right. You're headed to work or maybe you get to work from home. And then during that work from home, maybe three times in that time frame, you know, you're training your dog. Not only that, too, but to piggyback on what we were talking about last week about being the pack leader, if you take your dog on a a training session, right? Then you have established in that controlled walk your role as the pack leader, which is gonna translate. Correct. into your training session. So you're going to be rolling over those dynamics into your training session, which is only going to further build on that trust relationship with your dog. Right. So you're building trust. Yeah. See how all this you guys listening, like see how it all it's so intertwined. Yes. That's why we've kind of created these three foundations so that you can go back and forth to them. But yes. Yes. Yes. And that built that trust is so critical because that is, you You know, that is sort of the glue, you know, in your relationship. Your dog trusts you. You know, you're going to be much more successful. Yeah. For sure. Let's take everybody back to that. Those three intelligence of the dog. Okay. The adaptive one. Mm-hmm. Because so you... You are training a dog sit, stay, come all the different commands and they can, you know, you use that equation we told you, you're going to succeed every time. Right. But then you have to understand on the adapted side of their intelligence, they're learning. Every moment they're with you. Right. It is like kids. I was just kidding. Yeah. They're going to see you. They're going to hear you. And they are learning. They're absorbing everything. Yes. So, for instance, going back to where, like, my friend, where the dog, you know, scratches their legs to be fed. Right. Right. So you have to. Sorry. Yeah. a girlfriend and me saying, you have to. Sorry, I shouldn't be saying that. But it's really important for you to really be watching every interaction you're having with your dog and making it intentional because you could actually be training into them bad behavior. Right. So, for instance, like the jumping thing. Right? Oh, yes. So you see a lot of people. And dude, dogs are amazing. Did I just call you dude? I did. Such a Bourne's thing to do. So dogs are just, right? They're so amazing. You come home from like a long day. They're so happy to see you. They're like little eyes are just twinkling so bright. Right? And your dog jumps up on you and you go ahead and pet them. And pet them. Right. You reward them. Negative behavior Yeah Right We have this We have this issue In my own house Yeah Brendan Bam I call Brendan Kara's husband Bam And Bam is just He's a softie He's a softie And he's playful Yeah So he With Juniper You know I was like Tough cop Right You know like Here are the rules And then he would be like Oh good good Junie And he'd say One two up One two up And he would want her to put her paws on his chest. And I was like, what are you doing? Because now when she wants your attention, she'll like sit up and put her paws up. And we've gotten to the point where she won't put her paws on me, but she does it to him. And it makes me crazy. Yeah, because listen, it's fun and it's awesome for you if you're doing it with your dog. But then like if you're... But not with like my mom. Yes, correct. So that's not good. That's the thing is you're always forgetting about... you know, the household or the friends and families that are coming over. Or like for me, some of my girlfriends are not dog people. Right. So if you have a dog jumping up on them. Deirdre Kelly. Yeah. Kara's sister Deirdre is a really good friend of mine. And so, yeah, she's just not a dog person. Right. And so I don't want dogs jumping on anybody that comes through the door. Of course. So that is the adaptive intelligence that you're going to be praising a dog without even realizing that you're doing that yes absolutely or rewarding for that behavior right over again right um um yeah it's the same thing like um uh what's another good example like if um a dog barks at you constantly at the treat container right and you come over and pay attention right what were you gonna say i was gonna say um A lot of folks want their dogs to bark when somebody comes to the door. Sure. Right? And so they want their, they go, well, I want my dog for protection. I want my dog to bark when someone comes to the door. And they'll allow this sort of negative behavior to happen because they think it's for protection. But we talk about this all the time. If you're not at the house and someone comes to the door, your dog's going to bark. Yeah, they're going to. One way or the other. Correct. Because you're not there. Right. So you're not there to be the pack leader. So they're going to assume that role. Right. Instinctively. But if you're rewarding that sort of negative behavior, then the the dynamic has changed dramatically. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And like it brings up a good topic. So there's like two things to this. Right. Yeah. So one thing is, especially if you live in a neighborhood or in the city with your dog or something like that. Right. And they're actually seeing outside. Yes. We call it the male person effect where, you know, the male person comes up, drops off your mail and the dog barks at it. Right. And guess what the male person does? Leaves. Leaves. So the dog literally like It's Paul on its back. It thinks it successfully got rid of the intruder. Correct. Or if you have a dog on an invisible fence, your neighbors pass by. Yes. The dog's rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah. Right. All the way down. you know, that stuff gets really dangerous. It shouldn't be allowed to happen, honestly. Right, right. So those are type of stuff that are like adaptive. It's they're learning that behavior by whatever they're doing. They like, they're manipulating it basically themselves. Yes, right. So, God, so that was that one point I wanted to make about that. But what was the other? When we were talking, going back to just like the, People are like, well, I want my dog for protection. Oh, yes. Yes. So with the barking dog. Yeah. You can have your dog bark as long as your dog has a command to stop. I was just going to say, I was like, you have to be in control. Correct. Of the situation. Right. So it's it is I've seen and I've done it. It's a subtle command or, you know, you know, quiet or quiet. on your bed command or something like that. So you can have the dog make awareness of somebody coming to the house and then you can say thank you. And then the dog should be able to back off. If your dog is not backing off from the barking, then that's a behavior they've adaptively learned themselves and got rewarded for whatever reason. And that really needs to be, you need to have intervention in there. You need to detox the dog from that. Yeah. Okay. That's a really... That's a big one. That's just a... Also, too, because it's so instinctive for dogs. You know? I mean, they are going to... They're going to want to sort of protect the pack. Right? Yeah. And let's talk about my old dog, Franklin. So, Franklin was never allowed to bark in the house or at anything in every... Anything. The door knocked. He was never allowed to bark. I believe... in that so heartedly that if you have a dog, it shouldn't bark. Right. You should just, he should, we talked about this before, didn't we? About the like, no bark, all wag, like as a sticker. Bark, right. Bark less, wag more. That is a sticker. That is a sticker, but I don't want any barking. So what happened was, is we lived in a townhouse community when we had Franklin and he never was allowed to bark. And then we, We did not realize it until a friend of ours pulled up to just like check to see if we were home and like go to dinner with them. And they noticed our little neighbor next door because we used to leave the windows open would come over and bang on the door to get Franklin like riled up. And of course, we weren't there. So Franklin would bark. But what happened is, is in that type of ongoing behavior that we didn't realize was going on. Yeah. then Franklin would get, he started to get pretty aggressive with like if BG&E was coming up to the house or yeah, he just got on getting very, more territorial than I would have liked him to be in. So that's the thing. And then also going back to like, if you have multiple dogs in the house, and you're allowing these adaptive behaviors to occur, either because you're rewarding them or you're not doing any intervention with them, is that they'll have what we call internal aggression to each other, where their energy wants to get out to that passing dog or those neighbors. But what they'll do is they'll go after your dog, your other dog.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

And that's called internal aggression. And you just don't want that within your pack at all. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. So you so they learn behaviorally and there's two ways by us like obediently training them or by adaptive training. OK. Yes. So So should we touch on the third one too, which is instinctive? I mean, I guess it's a little bit less. That's more primal, like you said. Yeah, I think that's more primal. Again, it's like if you have an Australian heeler, you might see that you have a bunch of friends over and all of a sudden you see your dog start trying to – gather them all up. What's going on? And that's intuitive. Right. And the same if you have a retriever, you'll notice that they might bring you something every time you come home. Right. They might go find one of their toys or a shoe or a sock or something that they would love to bring to you. Right. But it's good to have at least have an awareness of that because I think if people and this is something that I know we're going to talk about in a later episode, but It's important to understand those sort of personalities based on the type of environment that you live in and what kind of dog you might get for yourself and or adopt.

UNKNOWN 41:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Right. Oh, girl, you get into a whole episode. I know. We're not going to go there. But that's important. I mean, it is like if you you really should understand the instinctive nature

SPEAKER_01 41:52

of

SPEAKER_00 41:53

whatever dog of your dog. Yeah. So I always kind of say dog first. Right. Right. And then breed. Right. Right. But so you have a dog and all of this equates to dog. We're understanding the language of dog. Right. But you do. Once you're starting to get into picking a dog for your family, you have to really know what breed you're getting and making sure it's a good fit. Right. Right. And that is all, you know, that understanding that instinctive nature of how they learn will could really impact. Yeah.

UNKNOWN 42:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

The type of animal that you choose for yourself. Correct. Because if you have like a healer, they're going to want to go out and work. And if you're not going to work that dog, that dog is going to work you. Correct. So that dog is not the best. I know. I mean, I do this too. Right. I love different looks of breeds and so forth. But you just have to also understand that when you. It just might not be there, even though you love the way that dog looks. It's just not necessarily the right fit. Yeah. It looks great on paper. God, you know what is a really good example of that is a pointer. Uh-huh. Yes. They are so high energy. Right. And they literally have a purpose. They're bred to point. Correct. Yeah. And so they're gorgeous, but- You're going to bring that home to a family. If you're not going to work that in that type of environment. Right. If you don't have a hunter in that family, it's probably, you know, this is a whole nother episode. Yes. Yes, indeed. But anyhow. So, yeah. So that's how dogs learn. So important. I love it. And then we'll tie that into next episode. week which is going to be the third is how they act. Yes. Which is territorially. Which is territorially. And then what we can do is after we explain that a little bit we can kind of show you how they're all intertwined together. Yes. We'll bring it all together. I love it. Good talk. Till then dog is love. Dog is love. If this podcast aligns with you, it would mean so much to us if you would take 30 seconds to do these three things. First, follow or subscribe to Dog Is Love so you don't miss an episode. To do this, just go to Dog Is Love show page on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts and tap the plus sign on the upper right-hand corner or click on follow. While you're there, give a five-star rating and review why you liked our episode and share an episode We would be so grateful. That we have the answers Or we could lean into the light Cause man complicates The stillness of nature While dogs humbly watch with awe in their eyes We're not supposed to struggle

SPEAKER_01 45:45

alone A

SPEAKER_00 45:49

friend for a lifetime To guide you wherever you roam Dog is love Like the roots of the

SPEAKER_01 46:05

trees and the stars up

SPEAKER_00 46:14

above Dog is love Judgment free unconditionally Go clean your bathroom.

UNKNOWN 46:30

Oh, my.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Look at these baseboards. They have never shined so bright. Oh, my gosh. That's so funny.